Engagement Manager (APAC)

About us

Founded in 1996, Argos Multilingual is a global provider of technology-enabled language, AI and data solutions. We combine human expertise, technology and AI to help organisations communicate, operate and grow across markets.

We work with some of the world’s most recognised companies, from global technology leaders and e-commerce innovators to major organisations in life sciences and manufacturing.

We are an international organisation with 400+ people across 42 countries. We continue to expand our capabilities in AI and data alongside our established language and localisation expertise, building on a strong foundation while embracing the opportunities created by new technology.

About the role

The Engagement Manager is responsible for building, establishing, and leading the contributor engagement function that supports a global freelance community delivering AI data, annotation, evaluation, content moderation, data collection, and language services.

The Engagement Manager will operate as both a strategic and hands-on leader, partnering closely with the Sourcing team to support contributor acquisition, onboarding, deployment, activation, and retention activities. As the freelance workforce community scales, the Engagement Manager will design and implement the engagement operating model, establish community management processes, define workforce engagement strategies, and build a dedicated Engagement team.

Working closely with Sourcing, Project Management, Delivery, Quality, Operations, and Product teams, the Engagement Manager will ensure contributors remain engaged, project-ready, effectively deployed, and connected to the organisation throughout their lifecycle.

The ideal candidate will have experience managing contingent or freelance workforce communities, building new operational functions, and creating scalable engagement frameworks that support workforce growth, utilisation, and retention.

Responsibilities

Engagement Function Development & Operational Design

• Establish and scale the Engagement function, processes, and operating model.

• Design and implement the Engagement function strategy, operating model, and supporting processes.
• Define the contributor lifecycle framework, from onboarding through activation, deployment, engagement, retention, and reactivation.
• Build scalable engagement programmes capable of supporting a rapidly growing global workforce community.
• Partner closely with Sourcing leadership to establish clear ownership boundaries and handoff processes between workforce acquisition and workforce engagement.
• Create engagement playbooks, workflows, service standards, and operational procedures.
• Define workforce engagement KPIs, contributor health metrics, utilisation measures, and retention indicators.
• Evaluate and implement tools, systems, and automation that enhance community engagement and contributor communications.
• Develop the business case and organisational structure for future Engagement team growth.
• Establish best practices for contributor communications, community management, workforce deployment, and escalation management.
• Continuously assess operational effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement as the function matures.

Workforce Engagement & Community Management

• Own the ongoing engagement of the freelance contributor community throughout the contributor lifecycle.
• Develop and execute engagement strategies that increase workforce participation, responsiveness, and retention.
• Build contributor engagement programmes from the ground up, including communication frameworks, lifecycle campaigns, and community initiatives.
• Maintain regular communication with active and inactive community members through email campaigns, newsletters, surveys, and engagement initiatives.
• Foster a strong sense of community among contributors supporting AI data and technology programmes.
• Establish contributor segmentation strategies to support targeted engagement and retention efforts.
• Design and implement re-engagement campaigns to reactivate qualified contributors who are not currently assigned to projects.
• Create community engagement calendars and communication plans that increase participation and workforce readiness.
• Monitor community health metrics and identify opportunities to improve participation and long-term engagement.
• Gather and analyse contributor feedback to enhance the overall community experience.
• Develop programmes that improve contributor loyalty, repeat participation, and long-term community value.
• Act as an escalation point for contributor concerns, engagement issues, and community-related challenges.
• Ensure contributors remain informed about project opportunities, platform updates, process changes, and business initiatives.

Workforce Deployment & Resource Allocation

• Partner with Operations and Project Management teams to ensure projects are appropriately staffed with qualified contributors.

• Manage the assignment of freelancers and community members to AI data, annotation, transcription, evaluation, content moderation, and other project-based work.
• Initially support deployment and contributor allocation activities directly while engagement processes and team structures are being established.
• Monitor workforce availability, readiness, and utilisation to support current and future project requirements.
• Collaborate closely with Project Managers to understand project demands, timelines, skill requirements, and capacity needs.
• Coordinate contributor onboarding, activation, and deployment activities to support project launches and ramp-ups.
• Work with Sourcing teams to ensure seamless transitions from recruitment and onboarding into active project participation.
• Maintain visibility of contributor skills, experience, language capabilities, certifications, and project history.
• Ensure resources are allocated efficiently to maximise utilisation while maintaining project quality standards.
• Develop workforce deployment workflows that can scale with increasing project demand and contributor volumes.
• Track deployment metrics and proactively identify staffing risks, shortages, or utilisation challenges.
• Establish workforce readiness metrics and staffing service-level expectations.

Workforce Planning & Retention

• Support business growth through proactive workforce planning and contributor retention strategies.
• Partner with Sourcing leadership to jointly develop workforce acquisition, activation, and retention strategies, ensuring contributor supply and community engagement remain aligned with business demand.
• Forecast workforce requirements based on project demand, client pipelines, and contributor availability trends.
• Identify gaps in contributor availability and support workforce strategies to address future needs.
• Develop retention initiatives that increase contributor loyalty and repeat participation.
• Create programmes that encourage successful contributors to transition between projects and remain active within the community.
• Monitor contributor lifecycle metrics and identify opportunities to reduce churn.
• Analyse engagement, utilisation, activation, and retention data to support workforce planning decisions.
• Develop contributor lifecycle analytics to better understand activation, retention, redeployment, and community health trends.
• Establish proactive retention programmes designed to maximise contributor lifetime value and workforce stability.
• Identify opportunities to reduce dependency on external sourcing by improving contributor reactivation and redeployment.
• Provide recommendations to leadership regarding workforce capacity, engagement trends, contributor experience, and workforce readiness.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Work collaboratively across the business to ensure workforce readiness and successful project delivery.
• Serve as a key liaison between Sourcing and Delivery teams during the formation and growth of the Engagement function.
• Partner closely with Sourcing teams to align contributor engagement activities with workforce acquisition and onboarding efforts.
• Collaborate with Project Managers to understand project requirements and ensure staffing plans are delivered against timelines.
• Work with Quality and Operations teams to identify high-performing contributors suitable for future opportunities.
• Support workforce acquisition initiatives during periods of rapid growth, workforce shortages, or resource constraints.
• Collaborate with Sourcing leadership on contributor journey improvements, onboarding experiences, and workforce scalability initiatives.
• Partner with Product and Operations teams to improve contributor workflows, communications, platform experiences, and workforce management processes.
• Support escalation management when workforce challenges impact project delivery.
• Participate in workforce planning discussions to ensure alignment between contributor availability and business demand.
• Provide regular workforce insights, performance reporting, and strategic recommendations to stakeholders.

Team Leadership & Function Building

• Build and scale the Engagement function to support organisational growth.

• Establish the Engagement team structure, roles, responsibilities, and capability requirements.
• Develop hiring plans and support recruitment activities for future Engagement Specialists, Coordinators, and Team Leads.
• Create training materials, operating procedures, and knowledge resources for future team members.
• Initially operate as a hands-on individual contributor leader while building the function and demonstrating operational value.
• Transition operational responsibilities to newly hired team members as the function grows.
• Coach, mentor, and develop future Engagement personnel.
• Establish performance metrics, service standards, and operational objectives for the Engagement function.
• Drive a culture focused on contributor experience, workforce readiness, accountability, continuous improvement, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Evaluate team capacity requirements and make recommendations for future organisational growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience managing freelance, contractor, crowdsourcing, gig, or contingent workforce communities.
• Experience in workforce operations, community management, talent operations, recruitment operations, contributor management, or project staffing environments.
• Experience building, developing, or scaling operational functions, programmes, or workforce initiatives.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to work effectively across multiple functions.
• Experience working with workforce data, reporting, analytics, and performance metrics.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and influencing skills.
• Strong planning, organisational, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to balance strategic planning with hands-on operational execution.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, project-driven environment with evolving priorities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within AI data services, data annotation, machine learning, GenAI, crowdsourcing, BPO, or digital operations environments.
• Experience supporting large-scale global freelancer or contributor communities.
• Experience building new operational functions, workforce programmes, or community management teams from inception.
• Knowledge of workforce planning, capacity forecasting, resource allocation, and contributor lifecycle management.
• Experience working closely with Project Management, Delivery, and Operations teams.
• Expertise in CRM, ATS, workforce management, community management, or contributor engagement platforms.
• Experience designing contributor lifecycle, engagement, activation, or retention strategies.
• Experience implementing community engagement tools, workforce communication platforms, or contributor experience programmes.
• Advanced analytical, reporting, and workforce planning capabilities.

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Originally posted on Himalayas